Tuesday, December 13th 2011
AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview Drivers Released, Support HD 7900 Series
AMD today released its latest unofficial drivers, Catalyst 12.1 Preview. Surprisingly, this release comes ahead of the month's scheduled WHQL-signed release, Catalyst 11.12 WHQL. According to sources, 12.1 Preview is the first driver that provides early (read: rough-on-the-edges) support for AMD's next generation Radeon HD 7900 series graphics cards, scheduled for launch on the 9th of January, 2012. That apart, Catalyst 12.1 brings the following changes to the table:
- AMD HD3D technology support enhancement
o Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations
o Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections - 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays. - AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements - Application Profiles
o AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications
o Please be sure to select the "Restore Factory Defaults" option under the Catalyst - Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature - this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles
- AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements - Video UI improvements
o AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simply adjustment of video color and video quality controls - Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver (in addition to the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance driver)
o Improves performance (10%) in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim when Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing is enabled on the AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series for single GPU and AMD CrossFireX configurations
80 Comments on AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview Drivers Released, Support HD 7900 Series
I seriously donno why, but i wanna punch the wall
I'm going to test the drivers in Skyrim now, I'm satisfied with 11.11b but let's give it a try :)
Would save me having to constantly dick around and manually turn crossfire off when playing ARMA II then on again when i finished.
I get such bad graphical glitching in that game. the game used to run perfect in crossfire back when cat 11.9's were out, They broke the profile but they wont admit to it.
After the reboot I proceed to install the new drivers and then I reboot again
Just remember (as point of reference) that 2x4870 = 5850/5870 performance depending on the overclocks - so if youre looking for similar peformance of what you currently have now - a 6870 or GTX550/560/560Ti are recommended. they are great performers for what they cost. definitely a worthy upgrade for 2 4850s with a little more grunt under the hood, better power efficiency and less heat
I see some new options here and there, some good reorganisation of options to make them more clearer.
But I can't see any CAP profiles included. Do I need to install the old CAP's? I'm rather confused.
Installing these now see if my 6870 gets any benefit.
In your rush to come onto the forums and complain about nothing, did you even try the drivers first?
I am using these now on both my main rig with 2x 4870x2 Quad-CF and my secondary rig with 2x 4850 and it works perfect on both computers, including the new app profile feature.